Panzer Dragoon Orta

"One of the Few Great Games for the X-Box."

What's as big as a refrigerator, as heavy as an elephant, and black? My X-Box. Despite the X-Box being the console with the weakest software it does have a few games that make it worth owning. Panzer Dragoon Orta is one of those games.

The Panzer Dragoon series has been dormant since its last incarnation on the Sega Saturn. Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of the most highly sought after games in existence, its right up there with Radiant Silvergun (yet another Saturn game). What is Panzer Dragoon though? Panzer Dragoon games are shooters (except for Saga which is an RPG) that put you on the back of a Dragon. You fly around on your dragon,on a rail, through level after level of flying badguys that you blow up. Its just good fun. Anyways, Panzer Dragoon Orta takes after the first two games of the series and puts you in the action as a white haired girl named Orta. (Those people with white hair...there is just always something about them. Sephiroth from FFVII, Dark Schneider from Bastard, for you anime fans.) For as long as she can remember she has been imprisoned and chained up when one day shes attacked by vicious imperial units called Dragonmeres. Right when she is about to become Orta jerky a true dragon comes to her rescue and for some odd reason she decides to go for a piggyback ride and her adventure ensues from there.

The gameplay in the game is what really sets this game apart from other rail based shooters. Your dragon is the most powerful being in existence and it shows with all the stuff it can do. To make it feel less like you're on a rail you can move and look in all directions. Using the L and R buttons will rotate the camera 90 degrees and pushing them at the same time will rotate it 180 degrees which is a handy feature. Your dragon can also glide. By the press of a button you will accelerate or decelerate. You can use this to evade enemy attacks or you can use it to ram enemies. Your dragon also has a powerful move called the berserk attack. When your little berserk gauge is filled up you can unleash a fury of lasers that will cause massive damage to your enemies. On top of all that your dragon has 3 forms it can transform into. The base wing is the most well rounded. It has the ability to glide, it has the most lock on lasers, and its berserk attack is a dazzling light show. The heavy wing is the slowest of the pack but is the most powerful. It has no glide function and it has very few lock on lasers. Its berserk attack is a steady laser stream that you can aim. The final form is the Glide wing. This is the fastest dragon. It can glide more often than the base wing and it has the highest defense. This dragon has no lock on lasers though, however, its the best at shooting down enemy fire and its berserk attack has the potential to heal you which is highly useful in tough situations. To top it off the dragons have the ability to level up. Each dragon can get up to level five. When a dragon levels up they change appearance (except for base wing) gain more health and more power.

The game's control is smooth. You'll never find yourself smashing your controller into your mom's precious vase because of frustratingly difficult controls. Just make sure you have that controller S because the ''bear'' just doesn't cut it no matter what game you're playing on the X-Box...but wait the bear is the smaller controller...sorry, Penny Arcade reference there.

The games graphics are phenomenal. Its one of the most gorgeous games to grace a console. The first level doesn't really show the games graphical prowess but wait until you play the second level and you'll know what I mean. It's the only time you'll ever call a dragon ''pretty''.

The game has good sound as well. The musical score is great and all the sound effects are in place. The thing that is really great though is the voice acting. The game is entirely voiced in a fictional language that sounds like a cross between Japanese and Latin. Its amusing though because entire paragraphs are sometimes voiced in a few short words of the world's language so sometimes you'll wait a little bit before the talking starts again.

Usually shooters don't hold up in the replay department but luckily this one does. It has a treasure trove of unlockable goodies. From a movie gallery, to an encyclopedia of the world, to flight records, sub-quests with other characters in the game and even the original Panzer Dragoon, you'll have lots of stuff to do in this game.

Overall, I gave this game a 9 because its not perfect but it comes damn close. If you own an X-Box you must buy this game. If you don't have an X-Box (now I'm not saying to support microsoft but rather support Sega) buy one for this game. People will tell you to buy one for Halo but don't listen! Halo is overrated...but that's for a different review. Buy this game!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/03, Updated 01/16/03